Bulk Water Stations

The City of London has several automated bulk water stations spread geographically throughout the city to allow bulk water haulers to obtain potable water from the distribution system year round, with most being operational 24 hours per day, 7 days a week (view map). These bulk water stations have been designed to eliminate the need for withdrawal of water from fire hydrants. The practice of allowing fire hydrant connections is heavily limited due to the impacts they have on the water distribution system. Bulk water stations are specifically designed to minimize the potential for contamination of the water supply and reduce discoloured water events. Unauthorized withdrawal of water through a fire hydrant is considered illegal.

Bulk water stations dispense a high volume of water over a short amount of time. They are intended to be used for supply of large quantities of water (in excess of 1,000 litres). Attempting to fill tanks smaller than this will result in overflow and possible damage to the user’s equipment.

Bulk Water Station Upgrades

The City of London will be upgrading the current pre-paid card based bulk water system to a password/PIN based system. You will no longer be required to go to City Hall for service. The new system is set up so that you manage your account from your office, smart phone, or any web based computer or tablet. This includes pre-payments, to managing individual truck usage, as well as creating reports to better manage your business. Customers will manage their accounts online using our third party provider, Flowpoint Systems. Some of you may already have used this system in other cities around Ontario.

The expected installation of 7 new station terminals will occur over two days starting on March 26, 2018, with the 8th terminal being installed on Commissioners Road West later in the spring. As a result we will be operating both systems simultaneously.

We are hopeful that you can get started by creating your own customer profile which will include creating at least one unique truck access code and PIN number, as well as adding a dollar amount to your profile. If you wish, you can set up your profile with multiple truck access codes and PIN's to match your operating fleet of water haulers, or an access code and PIN per driver. Note that your customer profile will require one email address as the main contact. You have the option to add additional administrative users and emails once your main customer profile is created.

A link to The City's Bulk Water Portal can be found in the Right Hand menu. Also within that menu you can find a user guide to assisit you through navigating the new online system.

For those that require assistance we will be providing two drop in training sessions noted below; however, you are encouraged to try to set up an account and navigate around the system as it is fairly intuitive. At the training session, if you wish to add balance to your account, please bring a credit or debit card with you. For continued support you can contact us at bulkwater@london.ca or 519-661-2489 ext 5541 or 7503.

Once the new bulk water station access terminal upgrade is complete, there will no longer be the need to retain the current pre-paid cards, or to go to City Hall to add value to the pre-paid cards. Any value you have on the current pre-pad cards can be transferred to your new customer profile by one of the City's Bulk Water Administrators. This can be done during the training sessions, or at a later date if you wish to keep a card, or cards, for use at the Commissioners Road West bulk water station that will be operational during the transition period. In order to do a balance transfer you will need to bring in your card(s).

Information at a glance:

Bulk Water Fill Stations are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (except Lambeth).

There are risks and difficulties associated with taking water from a fire hydrant. All fire hydrant connection requests are reviewed on a case by case basis. Typically, they are only allowed in situations where a very large volume of water (200,000 litres and up) is required over a short amount of time. Costs associated with fire hydrant connections can be found in Water By-law W8. Unauthorized connections or water taking from a fire hydrant is considered illegal. If you wish to inquire about the possibility of obtaining a fire hydrant connect please send an email at least 7 days in advance, and include: volume and flow you require, when the connection will be required, length of time the connection will be needed, location, purpose of work, and your contact information.

Please note that due to the age and material of some water infrastructure, certain areas of the City cannot be provided with a bulk water fire hydrant connection under any circumstance.